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Vancouver-based Pacific Booker Minerals Inc. (NYSEMKT: PBM) has been denied permission to develop a mine in British Columbia, and the stock price is plummeting on the news. The provincial government of B.C., for only the second time in its history, has cited potential damage to the salmon population of the Skeena River in denying the company an environmental assessment certificate.

Pacific Booker had proposed a new mining project at a B.C. lake that is home to a genetically unique species of salmon, expecting to mine 30,000 tons of copper and and gold ore every day for a period of 21 years. In addition to the digging, the project would have including a processing plant, sewage and wastewater management facilities, explosives and fuel storage facilities, and a tailings storage facility.

Although Canada's federal government has not yet ruled on the project, the provincial government's ruling effectively shuts down the project.

Shares of Pacific Booker are down more than 66% today at $5.15 after posting a new 52-week low of $3.80 earlier in the day. The stock's prior 52-week range was $6.83 to $15.40.